The Pure Lion
by agent-mac
Summary: She doesn’t know how it started and she doesn’t really care. She understands him and he understand her. For them, that’s the most important part.


**The Pure Lion**

Summary: She doesn't know how it started and she doesn't really care. She understands him and he understand her. For them, that's the most important part.

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She hears him before she sees him. That's how it always is. No matter how silent he makes his approach, she knows he is there. She can feel him. She can sense him hovering, watching her, in the doorway well before he speaks or moves. He can't hide from her. He doesn't know that he wants to, either.

She understands him. She understands his need to ride his motorcycle. His need to ride recklessly on the open road. She knows he needs to feel alive. The adrenalin rush. That's what keeps him going. That's what gives him reason to get up in the mornings. He understands her just as much as she understands him. For them, that's the most important part. He understands her. There is no need for words.

She is catholic. He is Jewish. Their conflicting religions mean they will never marry. Neither of them want to give up their faith for the other. It is their different backgrounds that makes their attraction to each other so much stronger. Neither of them practice their faith a great deal, though. They have both shed too much blood at work for them to be faithful.

What was hers became his, and what was his became hers. She knows she has become his, and he acknowledges that he is now hers. They are equal, yet they are superior to the other. It's an interesting dynamic at play. Whilst he'll never control her - she's too strong for that to ever happen - she gives him what he wants. And she knows that she'll never be able to control him - he is too much of a free spirit for that - he gives into her every need, her every wish, her every desire.

He is captivated by her: the way she walks, the way she dresses, the way she laughs. She is mesmerized by his posture, his voice. He can speak nine languages. She can speak only two, but she's slowly learning a third. He's teaching her Hebrew. He's not sure what prompted her to ask him to teach her, but he'd willingly obliged. He'd do anything for her. If she ever asked, he'd give up his job for her. He knows she'll never ask him, though. She respects him too much. He'd never ask her to give up her work, either. Both of their jobs are dangerous. It was their jobs that brought them together in the first place and it's a reality that it could be their jobs that will tear them apart. They never leave for work with out promising the other that they'll be careful. There is nothing else that they can promise.

They revel in their time together. It's often interrupted by work, so when they are together, they make every moment count, never leaving each other's side. They need to have constant physical contact when they're together. It's just their way of re-affirming their relationship. It's their way of confirming they are alive. He needs to feel her petit body up against his just as much as she needs to feel his strong arms around her. She likes feeling the beat of his heart.

She knows he's cheated death before. So has she. She's even cheated death with him. Twice. Her fate had been in his hands. He had the opportunity to kill her more than once, but he didn't. He couldn't. She even held his fate in her hands in their first encounter. She was pulled up tight against his body, a scalpel in her hand. She'd been ready to stab him and just as she'd worked up enough courage to do so, she'd looked into his eyes. They were kind. He remembers watching her determination switch to resignation.

When he comes home from work nursing a bruised and battered body, she runs a hot bath to help take his pain away. Little does she know, she only needs to smile at him for his pain to dissipate. Her presence is all it takes for him. His presence is all it takes for her. She is completely lost in him.

He is no longer the most wanted man on her boss' list. In fact, he isn't even on there at all any more. Since he was been with her, he has helped them on more than one occasion when the lines of international jurisdiction were a bit fuzzy. Gibbs doesn't know how he did it and he never asked. Neither does she. He has her work and he as his. They don't talk about work when they're at home. Their home is like their sanctuary that separates them from the outside world. Their home is where they can be themselves. It's where they don't have to pretend. It's where they don't have to act.

She still feels giddy every time he holds her hand. His hands go clammy every time she smiles at him. He still finds himself wondering how he ended up with her. How he ended up falling in love with someone so perfect. Someone so beautiful. She knows why she is attracted to him. She just doesn't understand how that simple attraction turned into something so deep. Something so strong. He is the one she wants to be with forever. He already knows that he will be. He can't imagine being anywhere else.

She doesn't know how it started, but she doesn't really care. All that she remembers is that he came to her one night, several months after he'd held her hostage for the second time. He came to her. He wanted her. She wanted to shoot him right there for causing her so much pain. But she didn't. She couldn't. She'd looked into his eyes again and she dropped her guard.

He's never met her parents and she's never met his. Unless they have children, it will probably stay that way. They'd talked about that; she wants children, as does he. It would make them a family, something they both wanted. They've toyed around with names, too. Lying in bed with their arms around each other, they'd talked about what it would be like to have children. She wants three. He wants four. She'd smiled and said they'd work on that. Alissa or Justine if they have girls. Matthew or Noah if they have boys. The names were of Hebrew origins, but were frequently used in American society. A mixing of cultures. His and hers. It was a mutual agreement. A compromise of who they are.

He has told her about his upbringing and she has listened intently to his many childhood stories. She'd told him about her childhood and he smiled fondly at the happy memories she possessed. His upbringing had been rough. Hers had been nurtured. He never wants her to experience some of the things he's been through. And while a part of her wants to experience those things so she can understand him more, the other part of her doesn't want to. She knows some of those things would change her and she doesn't want to be changed. He doesn't want her to change, either.

She can see the truth in him. She knows when he is telling the truth and when he is lying. He could never lie to her. She knows that. She knew that the first time their paths crossed. His eyes told her the truth. Her boss told her that eyes can lie and on some level she agrees. But she knows his eyes don't lie. They never have. They never will.

The End.

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